The last writers strike was also less radical, less class conscious, far from the near unanimity we have today, and wasn't backed up by the actors (or teamsters!)
Why would having greater worker power not help? I'm not saying they'd have complete control over it or anything, but the less economic precarity someone has, the more comfortable they are expressing themselves to leadership. There's less leverage by the bosses towards their workers, so they will have to compromise more.
You are mistaking 'worker power' with 'monetary compensation'. The abuses within Hollywood run incredibly deep, it's assumed in the industry that you will be sexually harassed at some point on set, and there is nothing you can actually do about it and keep your job, particularly if that person is a lead. There is a magnitude of power discrepancy that an increased paycheck and additional residuals cannot cover. Most of these writers are economically precarious, and it is their economic precarity that is causing them to strike against management. When they were not economically precarious, they did not strike against management nor raise any real fuss over these abuses. They want to be on the gravy train, they don't want the gravy train to stop working because it is fundamentally unethical. Which I sympathize with, getting a good-paying job is hard, but keeping it is a nightmare.
I really recommend you listen to the QAnonAnonymous episode, I think it is 143 on Jim Caviezel, and realize that it is literally just the tip of the iceberg for the show business industry.
That being said, it fundamentally doesn't matter what I think about any of this. The WGA will fight their hearts out for whatever demands they want and we will see what the consequences of that fight actually are, critical support regardless.
I think it's unfair to treat the writers as a monolith here. Yeah, there are shitheads in every union that are just pay focused, but a lot of people are victimized by these issues themselves. I agree stuff like this won't cure it, that the strike is unlikely to make a fully transformative action, but it's not the wrong direction. Negotiated contracts aren't just about monetary compensation. They can cover a wide variety of protections. I don't think it's fair to say that writers don't care about this, or won't push for it. Most writers aren't the people in power that perpetuate these crimes. The last strike didn't do anything about it, but labor action has been weak as shit for decades. It's only recently that any real teeth have started to remerge, and either way, enhancing the power of workers can only give them a stronger position to fight abuse.
The last writer's strike did not, so I don't know why you would assume this one would.
The last writers strike was also less radical, less class conscious, far from the near unanimity we have today, and wasn't backed up by the actors (or teamsters!)
Why would having greater worker power not help? I'm not saying they'd have complete control over it or anything, but the less economic precarity someone has, the more comfortable they are expressing themselves to leadership. There's less leverage by the bosses towards their workers, so they will have to compromise more.
You are mistaking 'worker power' with 'monetary compensation'. The abuses within Hollywood run incredibly deep, it's assumed in the industry that you will be sexually harassed at some point on set, and there is nothing you can actually do about it and keep your job, particularly if that person is a lead. There is a magnitude of power discrepancy that an increased paycheck and additional residuals cannot cover. Most of these writers are economically precarious, and it is their economic precarity that is causing them to strike against management. When they were not economically precarious, they did not strike against management nor raise any real fuss over these abuses. They want to be on the gravy train, they don't want the gravy train to stop working because it is fundamentally unethical. Which I sympathize with, getting a good-paying job is hard, but keeping it is a nightmare.
I really recommend you listen to the QAnonAnonymous episode, I think it is 143 on Jim Caviezel, and realize that it is literally just the tip of the iceberg for the show business industry.
That being said, it fundamentally doesn't matter what I think about any of this. The WGA will fight their hearts out for whatever demands they want and we will see what the consequences of that fight actually are, critical support regardless.
I think it's unfair to treat the writers as a monolith here. Yeah, there are shitheads in every union that are just pay focused, but a lot of people are victimized by these issues themselves. I agree stuff like this won't cure it, that the strike is unlikely to make a fully transformative action, but it's not the wrong direction. Negotiated contracts aren't just about monetary compensation. They can cover a wide variety of protections. I don't think it's fair to say that writers don't care about this, or won't push for it. Most writers aren't the people in power that perpetuate these crimes. The last strike didn't do anything about it, but labor action has been weak as shit for decades. It's only recently that any real teeth have started to remerge, and either way, enhancing the power of workers can only give them a stronger position to fight abuse.